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Coalition Holds Referendum on Cuts
Posted: May 17, 2016
(May 17, 2016)
By: Ken Hashizume, Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre
OHC will be holding votes in 20 locations to protest funding cuts to hospitals.
Orillia is joining the Ontario Health Coalition’s initiative to hold a referendum on the cuts to the funding of hospitals in Ontario.
A rally organized by the Orillia Health Coalition was held outside of Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital on Tuesday to protest the cuts and promote the referendum.
Spokesman Richard Johnson says he is concerned that the cuts are a thin edge of the wedge.
He says Canada is defined by the health care system and if nothing is done to protect it, it will look different 15 years from now.
Johnson says there will be 10 to 15 sites in Orillia and around 25 across Ontario that will be holding the referendum.
He says it is not binding but rather more of information that will be shared with the politicians at Queen’s park and they can ignore it at their peril.
Johnson says OSMH is losing 16 beds and 35 positions and you have to stand up against it.
He says he doesn’t blame the hospital for trying to balance their budget rather it is the issue with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to stop the cuts.
People can go to the following places to partake in the referendum:
May 21st at ODAS Farmers Market from 8 AM to 12 Noon.
May 24th to 26th at Abernathy Foodland from 6 PM to 8 PM.
May 27th and 28th at the Downtown Farmer’s Market from 10 AM to 1 PM and on Mississauga Street from 1 PM to 5 PM.
And May 28th at St. Luke’s Church in Price’s Corner from 8 AM to 12 Noon and at St. Anthanasius Angelican Church from 10 AM to 12 Noon.
